A Little Death/Part 1
"A Little Death" is the second story in the Universal Clarification Series. Story Tuesday mornings: they tend to be less terrible than Mondays. That is unless, in the last twenty-four hours, your actions were not your own. Sock had learned how to possess Jonathan and the resulting shenanigans drained his body to exhaustion. Worse yet, Jonathan remembered everything. The doodles on his quiz were one thing, but the cafeteria food he ate – and later threw up – on top of telling the blue-haired girl she was pretty was beyond forgivable. He would have to face the consequences of all those actions today or simply avoid the world altogether. Either way, Jonathan was not eager to wake up. Sock, meanwhile, was sitting hatless on the teenager’s back, waiting for him to awaken. He was amazed his counterpart slept like a rock all night, but in a way, that was a good thing. His two-toned hair was twice as messy at rest, and his red sleepshirt accumulated more wrinkles and stretched seams with each passing night. At least he was comfortable – and in grey Melvin Pine boxers, who wouldn’t be? Sock leaned in closer to his face with nervous anticipation as the phone alarm beneath the pillow went off. Jonathan blinked away his blurry vision. “…So, are ya still mad about yesterday?” he whispered. The teenager buried his face into his pillow with a raspy groan. “Ah. So that’s a no, then?” He murmured something, so the demon leaned in further. “I said get outta my room,” Jonathan repeated groggily. Before he let Sock respond, he pushed him off the bed, adding, “And quit sleeping on me, dude. It’s creepy as hell.” “Not as creepy as my spooky hole, right?” Sock teased with a sly wink. "Shuddup." "Okay..." Jonathan reached under his pillow and silenced the alarm with a sigh. After a couple seconds lying motionless, he tapped the screen to check one or two of his apps, closed them, and cleared his throat before hauling his weary self out of bed. While he cracked a few bones in various places, Sock lifted his hat off the floor and spoke up. "It's already 7:15, Jonathan." "Shit!" "Yeah, ya might wanna get going..." The teen shot up and stumbled across the room, trying to zip up his jeans and fix his hair simultaneously. The results were not good – in fact, his hair looked comparatively nicer before he woke up. “Wait – how come my alarm didn’t go off at 6:30?” he asked his demon with a suspicious glance. Sock followed him as he fled the room, sheepishly grinning. “Because I, uh, sort of…figured out how to change the settings on it..?” “You what?” Jonathan quipped. He hesitated at the top of the stairs before turning towards the bathroom further to his right, which was between his and his sister’s rooms. He prepared to brush his teeth, adding, “You little – I’ve only got five minutes to be out the door!” “Sorry, not sorry,” Sock teased. He smirked when Jonathan groaned, and then gently backstroked his way down to the bottom of the staircase. As he waited for his human at the front door, he could hear Jonathan aggressively brushing his teeth over the sound of the running water. It made the little demon chuckle. “C’mon, slowpoke!” he called out, “Your teeth are white enough to match your skin! Let’s go!” "I swear to God, Sock!!" Both of them were fairly startled when they heard his sister chime in from behind her bedroom door. On most weekdays, she was already out of the house by 7am, but not this morning. “Jonathan, I’ll give you five bucks later if you pipe down right now!” Jonathan quickly exited the bathroom and glanced at her door, saying, “Alright, Tabby, I’m going.” Without another word, he rushed downstairs and yanked his satchel off the wall hanger by the front door. His demon swiftly pursued him to the bus stop. . . . His stroke of luck lasted as long as the ride to school because, despite having a slightly below-average physique and arguably lazy lifestyle, Jonathan caught the bus. His morning classes proved more insufferable than ever before – without a doubt, it was all thanks to Sock. Luckily, he had made it to lunchtime, but made the un''lucky discovery that he had forgotten to grab the paper sack his mother left on the kitchen counter for him. With no sandwich and his adamant refusal to buy any more cafeteria food, he was doomed to go hungry for the rest of the day. Sock now understood his counterpart’s disapproval of the school lunches, so he made no effort to persuade him into the line. Throwing up yesterday had been all the proof either of them needed. He sat at the table holding his chin in his hands and lightly swung his feet, watching the sulking teenager at his side. They were silent until he heard Jonathan’s stomach growling. “Look, I know the food here sucks, but you’ve gotta eat ''something. It can’t be all bad here.” "I'm fine." "Your grumbly tummy disagrees." “I’d have food if somebody I know hadn’t messed with my phone last night…” “But, Jonathan, it’s my job to make you suffer! Is that, like, a foreign concept to you?” Continuation *'Part 2'